The July 1944 bombing that nearly took the life of Nazi Germany’s dictator, Adolf Hitler, was the last of some 40 attempts to eliminate him.

What kept any of those plots from succeeding was a set of practices that made his movements unpredictable – last-minute changes in schedules and destinations – and an ever-increasing army of protective services that were always around him.

These lessons have not been lost on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among other adjustments, he has recently increased the innermost circle of his security detail – the “last line of defense” of a hurricane-force architecture of multiple, interlocking layers of bodyguards and palace militia – to more than 800 persons.

One of the characteristics that all dictators have in common is that they all have some “alphabet agency” elite security formation that is supposed to take care of the ruler of the nation first, and everyone and everything come second or third – and to also kill anyone who threatens the “great leader.”

In one of the most repressive and murderous times in Russian history, the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was protected by the NKVD.

Its current-day successor is the Russian FSB, which Putin served as director in the 1990s. Hitler had his Gestapo, and Eric Honecker – the long-time East German communist party chief – had the Stasi.

States Within a State

Today, some of the most pervasive analogs of these entities are the Supreme Guard Command, which protects North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and the Central Security Bureau, which guards the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping. Every supreme leader has to have one.

As a profile of Putin’s increasingly paranoid demeanor in The Daily Telegraph published this week points out, as these dictators fall under pressure or become convinced of threats to their position, these security services encourage and benefit from their leaders’ paranoia.

They “become a state within a state, putting millions under surveillance, giving credence to the sniping and jealousies of each informant, and listing the originators as anti-state activists.”

The dictator becomes trapped in a vicious cycle of his own making, and “perpetual personal security becomes an obsession,” reads the profile.

The Stasi, which Putin became so close to during the Cold War period when he was posted to the East German city of Dresden is an extreme example.

Including all its part-time informers, “the East German secret police is reckoned to have employed one secret policeman for every 6.5 East Germans. By comparison, Hitler’s Gestapo deployed one per 2,000 people.”

Since Putin is as fearful or not more “than Hitler was of any threat to his regime, he hopes that technology and his many overlapping security organisations will neutralise any opposition,” reads The Telegraph article.

Wary of Plots

In March 2026, the Amsterdam-based Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) flagged what it had identified as a high-level alert in the Kremlin that had assessed “the risk of a plot or coup attempt against the Russian president. In particular, the fear of drones for a possible assassination attempt by members of the Russian political elite”.

The formation created by Putin, at the top of the security pyramid that serves and protects him and his inner circle, is the 50,000-strong Federal Protective Service (FSO).

The innermost unit is a handpicked, politically reliable force that was recently announced to have increased from 785 operatives to 812. The reason for the increase is suspected to have been the addition of a new detachment of 27 first-rate drone pilots.

With the issuance of this high-level alert, there were immediate orders that staff working near Putin be banned from traveling on public transport or using mobile phones.

Mobile network signals are now jammed when he is anywhere in the vicinity, and his key staff are issued with Kevlar umbrellas.

Putin also employs up to a dozen body doubles and has several identically furnished offices in Moscow, St Petersburg, his various dachas, and aboard his train.

These identical and multiple “film sets” are used by him regularly so that no one ever knows his true location.

The parallels are striking. As a consequence of the elaborate deceptions as to his true whereabouts and the endless security measures, “the Führer became a raving, deluded old man who hid in bunkers and, nine months later, died in one.” Putin, concludes the profile, “appears to be heading in the same direction.”

A £100m superyacht believed to be owned by Vladimir Putin is fleeing Europe to avoid Ukrainian drone attacks.

The 82m Graceful is traversing the coast of Norway on course to reach the northern Russian port of Murmansk in the coming days, according to maritime intelligence data and satellite imagery analysed by The Telegraph.

It is sailing under the escort of two Russian naval vessels and under the watchful eye of Nato.

The yacht has been pictured sailing with anti-drone nets covering its deck.

It is being shadowed by a heavily armed Russian I-class destroyer, the Severomorsk, as well as a 7,500-ton Russian salvage and patrol ship, the Voevoda, in the latest demonstration of Putin’s growing paranoia.

The convoy is being monitored by Nato, while German and Danish Navy patrol ships shadowed the vessels on their voyage through the Baltic, according to a senior Nato source.

Putin is understood to have taken numerous trips aboard the yacht, including a 2021 voyage in the Black Sea with Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, according to US government filings.

The vessel is equipped with both saltwater and freshwater pools, a helipad, gym, and secure government communications systems.

It was relocated from the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, to the Russian shipping enclave of Kaliningrad 17 days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Four months later, the US designated the yacht as blocked property under sanctions, forcing the vessel to rename itself the Kosatka, meaning “Killer Whale” in Russian.

The yacht went into hiding until last week when it re-emerged for the first time in four years.

Its automatic identification system broadcast its journey through the Danish Strait before going dark upon entering the North Sea on Monday.

The accompanying Voevoda continued to broadcast its location as it headed northbound past the Norwegian coast. The convoy is understood to be on course past the northern city of Tromsø before final docking in Murmansk.

John Foreman, Britain’s defence attaché to Moscow until 2022, said: “They don’t want to take any chances. Moving it further away from the Ukrainians after they pummelled Kronstadt.”

Just a week ago, Ukrainian long-range drones struck the strategic Russian Kronstadt naval base on Kotlin Island, around 12 miles east of St Petersburg.

The attack in the Gulf of Finland hit one of Moscow’s few modern warships, the RFS Boiky, in a clear demonstration of the Russian navy’s vulnerability far from the battlelines in Ukraine.

Satellite imagery analysed by The Telegraph reveals an unusually bare Kronstadt naval base following the Ukrainian attacks. Images from June last year appear to show at least nine more vessels docked in the port when compared with images of the base on Wednesday.

In November, a similar attack hit the Kremlin’s Gepard-class frigates Tatarstan and Dagestan, along with a number of small missile ships, while sailing in the Caspian Sea, almost 1,000 miles from Ukraine.

With the realisation that Russia’s air defence was unable to prevent recent strikes, Putin is moving his prized assets out of the Baltic and back home to safety.

Summary and Key Points: Ukrainian long-range drones have struck 24 of Russia’s 33 major oil refineries since 2022, knocking out roughly a quarter of national fuel production and a third of gasoline output.

-Total damage to Russian oil infrastructure now exceeds $13 billion.

-Ukraine has also destroyed up to 300 Russian air defense units a month, opening the way for deeper strikes — including a 600-drone assault on Moscow in mid-May and a first-time airport closure in Kaliningrad.

Ukraine Is Making Russia’s Oil Industries Pay 

Ukraine’s escalating long-range drone and missile strikes have increasingly crippled Russia’s economic and logistical foundations.

Kyiv has systematically targeted Russia’s oil infrastructure, supply chains, and military-industrial sites.

Ukrainian long-range drone strikes have disabled nearly all processing facilities in Central Russia, knocking out 25 percent of the country’s fuel production capacity.

With nearly a third of gasoline and a quarter of diesel output impacted, the strikes aim to cripple Moscow’s war economy and restrict battlefield logistics.

This is changing the entire outlook of the war, as the tide has turned toward a possible Ukrainian victory.

Ukrainian Drones Have Hit 24 Of Russia’s Major Oil Refineries

Since the Russians invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukrainians have conducted at least 158 strikes against Russian oil refineries. And those strikes have been conducted against 24 of 33 major Russian refineries.

Those attacks have intensified in the past year. Up to this point in 2026, Ukrainian drone strikes against oil facilities have already surpassed all of 2024.

Evgeny Borovikov, deputy CEO of the Russian insurance broker Mains, said that direct damage to oil and gas infrastructure from drone attacks exceeded 100 billion rubles (around $1.1 billion).

He added that when other economic effects are taken into account—including lost production and secondary disruptions—the total impact rises above 1 trillion rubles (approximately $13 billion).

Russia’s economy relies on oil and gas taxes for 25 percent of its budget. It is already stretched tight, and this loss of revenue will stretch it to the breaking point.

Ukrainian drone attacks continue to target Moscow’s oil production facilities, effectively shutting down the Syzran Oil Refinery, which refines about 170,000 barrels a day. Six of Russia’s ten oil refineries were forced to shut down production, at least for a short time.

Western Economic Warfare Targets Russian Oil Industry

Beyond Ukraine’s direct kinetic attacks, international sanctions continue to target Russian energy revenue, hampering an already stretched Russian economy and its ability to fund the war in Ukraine.

The European Union imposed bans on short-term contracts for Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), forcing Moscow to seek alternative Asian markets and secure new transport fleets.

The measures prohibit spot-market imports, ban the use of EU terminals for transshipping and re-exporting Russian LNG to non-EU countries, and phase out the remaining long-term supply contracts by January 2027.

Ukrainian Drone and Missile Strikes Are Destroying The Economy

Ukrainian drone strikes have increasingly hit deep inside Russia, and the Institute for the Study of War reported that in addition to attacks on the oil industry, Russian authorities are being forced to restrict the use of airspace in the Moscow air zone.

The Russian Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) claimed on May 25 that Russian authorities will begin prohibiting civilian flights in the Moscow air zone at altitudes from 0 to 5,100 meters starting on June 1.

Russian authorities closed the Kaliningrad airport for a few hours due to a reported drone threat for the first time on May 25. That is significant, as the airport’s location, over 800 kilometers from Ukrainian-controlled territory and bordered by NATO states, underscores the growing reach of Ukraine’s drones.

One drone strike targeting a navigation service in Rostov-on-Don resulted in the suspension of air service at 13 major Russian airports.

“Middle Strike” Drones Have Hammered Targets Deep In Russia

The Ukrainian drone attacks are savaging Russia’s air defense networks. According to United24, drones destroyed more than 250 air defense units in April; in March and February, the figures were similar—up to 300 units each month.

The destruction of Moscow’s air defenses is the basis of Ukraine’s Middle Strike Drone strategy and allows it to hit targets deeper inside Russia.

These Middle Strike attacks are less expensive than traditional missile systems and can be manufactured in greater numbers. The attacks are scalable and enable daily strikes against targets that sustain the Russian military.

And they enable deeper-strike operations, especially when Russian air defenses are neutralized.

The “Middle Strike” refers to the range between battlefield first-person-view (FPV) tactical drones and the long-range deep-strike missile systems.

These fixed-wing drones have eviscerated Moscow’s air defenses, allowing for deeper and more successful strikes against Russian infrastructure. This includes weapons and ammunition depots, warehouses, and command posts.

The ISW reported that since early May, Ukrainian “intensified intermediate-range strikes” (Middle Strike Drone attacks) have targeted Russian logistics at operational depths ahead of a planned Ukrainian maneuver.

Ukrainian forces notably began in May 2026 to interdict key Russian ground lines of communication (GLOCs) in occupied Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts. They have also limited Russia’s use of many of the main resupply routes it relies on.

These attacks have basically isolated the entire Crimean peninsula, as Moscow is wary of sending equipment, large troop concentrations, and ships to the ports there, lest they be attacked with virtual impunity.

Middle-strike drone strikes aren’t limited to Crimea. In mid-May, Ukraine sent more than 600 drones on an attack on Moscow itself. The targets struck by the Ukrainian drones included the Moscow Oil Refinery, the Solnechnogorskaya fuel-loading station, the Volodarskaya petroleum-product pumping station, and the Angstrem microelectronics plant in Zelenograd, outside Moscow.

Russia Is Powerless To Stop These Attacks

Russia, thus far, has been powerless to stop the Ukrainian drone attacks. If anything, they are only growing in size and effectiveness.

The campaign has been bolstered by tech-forward adaptations, such as the Hornet drone, which utilizes AI-assisted targeting and Starlink communications to maintain fire control over occupied territories.

These strikes have had a profound psychological effect on civilians.  Deep strikes inside Russia are increasingly common, forcing the Russian populace to confront a war they previously believed they were immune to.

It is showing the population that the rosy proclamations that their “special military operation” is progressing according to plan are total hogwash.

 

Secret Putin home on Finnish border revealed by drone – complete with £8,000 bidets and ‘stolen’ waterfall

Vladimir Putin has reportedly built a sprawling estate complete with bidets costing £8,000 each, a “stolen” waterfall and the framework for an air-defence system less than 20 miles from Russia’s border with Finland.

The secretive complex is nestled deep in the forests of the northern region of Karelia, according to the Dossier Centre, a Russian investigative organisation which tracks various people associated with the Kremlin.

Leaked details and aerial footage of the estate, on the shores of Lake Ladoga’s Majalahti Bay, revealed it was protected by round-the-clock security, barbed-wire fences, intelligence officers and drone jammers.

The estate houses three properties known as The Barn, The Fisherman’s Hut and The Garden House.

Leaked details previously suggested the extravagant properties are decorated with expensive bidets, shower heads costing £3,500 apiece and a floor made from Fior di Bosco Italian marble worth £85,000.

Putin is believed to travel to the estate at least once a year, according to residents.

“There is no doubt the president relaxes here,” a reporter for Dossier Centres said in a video report.

“During his visits, the local security is replaced by FSO [Federal Guard Service] employees, entrances are blocked off, and neighbouring islands are sealed off.”

The three houses boast two helipads, several jetties, a trout farm and a herd of cows for “marbled beef production”.

The grounds also house a factory kitted out with nearly £300,000 worth of Austrian brewing equipment capable of producing 82 pints of beer a day, and a second-floor tea room overlooking Lake Ladoga.

Drone footage published alongside the report appeared to reveal a waterfall, which the Dossier Centre claims was “stolen” from the Ladoga Skerries National Park, which sits within the estate.

It is not clear how the outlet’s journalists managed to avoid security to gain access to the grounds. Normally, it is only accessible via boat or aircraft.

A large raised embankment which could be used to station an air defence system is located at the back of the main property.

Vehicle tracks started appearing on the site shortly after it was constructed two years ago, further adding to the suggestion of surface-to-air missile systems being stationed there.

The Karelia estate was financed via companies linked to the Russian president’s associates and Kremlin-friendly oligarchs, the Dossier Centre claimed.

It said the owner of the estate was listed as Yury Kovalchuk, the chairman of Bank Rossiya, described by the US treasury as Putin’s “personal banker”.

He is said to run a network that looks after “the president’s leisure activities and all of his real estate”.

A nearby hotel is owned by Mr Kovalchuk, while a neighbouring residence is owned by Roman Abramovich, the Western-sanctioned former owner of Chelsea Football Club.

Construction on the 1,000-acre estate, which is roughly twice the size of Monaco, began more than 10 years ago.

Putin has very few assets declared in his name. They include a small apartment in St Petersburg, two Soviet-era cars from the 1950s, a trailer and a small garage, alongside his presidential salary of about £110,000 a year.

After Dossier Centre’s report emerged, the head of Putin’s presidential campaign said on Tuesday that the majority of the Russian leader’s savings were made up of his annual salary..